The BETA approach has been extensively used for an ex post evaluation of some of the economic impacts of a large variety of programmes launched by public authorities to support research and innovation. The approach was initially devised to evaluate some of the economic effects of the oldest and largest RI, the CERN. Since then the method has become one of the acknowledged methods of evaluation in the field of STI policy.
Although many different programmes were evaluated using this approach, they all included some R&D activities run in the form of projects. In this approach, direct effects were usually distinguished from indirect effects on the basis of the objectives of such projects. Hence, beyond the direct effects (corresponding to what was targeted when these R&D projects were designed and launched), the focus has always primarily been on indirect effects, (further exploitation of various types of knowledge, network, modes of organisation, etc. developed or acquired during these R&D projects). Basically, this approach tends to identify (and to measure the impact of) various types of learning processes triggered by the participation in R&D, which are the heart of the knowledge creation and diffusion dimensions in the innovation processes.
Since the context of RIs is most probably different and richer than the context of standard public programmes supporting R&D projects, the aim of EvaRIO is to adapt the BETA approach to the context of RIs.
This adaptation will be done along two main lines:
- BETA mapping: A more comprehensive mapping of the different effects that can be generated by or thanks to RIs (introducing a clarification of the distinction between direct vs indirect effects and a classification of effects as they appear along the lifespan of the RI)
- BETA core method: Adapted from the "original" BETA method, a further development of methods and indicators, allowing the identification and the quantification of some of these effects. This will be based on a micro-economic approach as well as on in-depth interviews of a sample of RI partners.
